| by Victor
Cherubim
( October 5,
2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Those of us around the world, who wished and watched
President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, meet for the first Round of a head to
head TV live debate, on October 3rd 2012 at University of Denver,
Colorado, had “great expectations.”
Having seen the
program, many of you may well say, you had a chance to see Mitt Romney, hit a
home run in this debate. In fact some 10 million tweets were sent during this
90 minute event. The so called questionable, “Twitter Election Meter” recorded
37% for the Governor and 36% for the President. The issue on everyone’s mind in
the US: Did the Governor rattle the President? Well! Judgment is reserved, as there
are two more rounds of debate to go before the election on Nov.6th. Could
it be the way the Obama camp had planned it?
With the
President leading in the polls up to the debate, Romney needed a boost. He
badly needed to win and according to some observers, accomplished it without
doubt. Many felt Romney’s performance was not perfect nor polished, just that
Obama’s looked tired, or overconfident, or “over-something,” perhaps, lack
lustre.
The best thing
that I thought stood out was that there was less negative campaigning on both
sides. The issues that were brought out, were over $4 Trillion budget deficit
reduction, Medicare and social service entitlement reforms, women’s issues, but most importantly, jobs, jobs and more jobs.
As Romney
said:”I love Big Bird, but I am not going to borrow money from China, to pay
for PBS,” – the TV Channel that airs the Children’s program. Minutes later,
social media exploded with 17,000 tweets. It was the new found political fame
for the six year Sesame Street programme.
The Republican
bandwagon proclaimed that they are on the right track, and President Obama’s
staff, Stephanie Cutler (Deputy Campaign Manager) admitted that Governor Romney
had won on preparation and on style points.
Does this add
any substance or value to the final result – we don’t know right now.
Anything can
happen between now and Election Day? Most Democrats feel strongly that if the
Republicans are so good at creating jobs, why are there so few jobs being
created by them, right now? On the flip side, diehard Republicans wants to send
Obama back to the ghettos of Chicago. The undecided voter, however, is reticent
as yet, but word is spreading that this Presidential election is not about:
“who wins, but who loses.” The motto of SAS, as we know is: “Who dares, wins.”
Is it going to
be R & R or O & B who win? Who knows? Is Joe Biden, Obama’s VP, the
GOP’s secret weapon? Vice President Biden has been pounced on a gaffe he made
in a speech days ago, by the R & R Republican Camp.
Biden is supposed to have unintentionally
said: “the middle class…………. has been buried the last four years.” Now
Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Rep.Paul Ryan, has hit hard saying: “Obama
economy has crushed the middle class, workers are suffering.” This message was
re-emphasised in the TV debate by Mitt Romney and broadcast that Obama has
killed 700,000 jobs?
It is one thing
to sit on a bus, feeling confused because it is not taking the route that one
expects it to follow. It’s quite another to wonder what on earth is going on in
the White House with President Obama driving the vehicle of State. Observers on
both sides proclaim he was voted in on the platform of reducing unemployment or
serving only one term. For the ordinary citizen in the States, the whole
election appears confusing.
What really
happens when there is confusion, whether in Sri Lanka or in the United States? What
happens, when the reins of power wielded by leaders, is ambivalent? What
happens when the powers to be are seen as weak and unwieldy, that the ship of
state is being left to “the winds and the weather”? Whether in Sri Lanka or in
the United States, when people get the feeling that promises are not kept, and
that the public have to accept, that some major decisions are being made for
them by people other than their leaders, or by situations beyond their control,
the easiest and simplest way people react, is generally to say nothing, but
vote with their feet, by abstaining.
In Sri Lanka
however, we pride ourselves by our power of the vote and our leaders know it.
In the United States, perhaps, it is mind boggling to think that with all the
technical progress and with the “twittering:
” what the voter
is thinking they are seeing, may not be what they are getting?”
Let’s keep Sri Lanka’s path of growth, on the
straight and narrow following our “Middle Path” rather than go haywire tweaking
and twittering to the unknown.
 Those of us around the world, who wished and watched President...){kind=link}